Paint Colors + Regrets

It’s Cassie here for my monthly guest post! Last month I shared our backyard renovation and I hope you found it inspiring as you all prepare for spring yard work and gardening! Speaking of gardening, we just planted our first seedlings in some raised gardens beds we added after my last post, so hopefully we will have some veggies to harvest this summer!

Many of you asked about the paint colors we used in our home in my mini home tour. I decided to put together a list of all the colors we currently have (from Sherwin-Williams), and give you a few of my thoughts on my favorite ones and what I wish I had done differently.

Favorites:

Seaworthy– This is the color we have painted in our dining room. So many people asked about this color in my first post. It is probably my favorite color painted in our home, which I find a little humorous because I tend to love neutrals and this is a fairly bold color once painted on the walls. I think its a favorite because it’s different. The light in our dining room is also some of the best natural lighting in our home, so I am sure that also has a little to do with it.

Iron Ore– We painted this color only a few weeks ago in our kitchen, and I am so surprised at how much more it makes me love this space. Our entire home was painted “Accessible Beige” (more on that choice below), and the contrast of this new color adds a whole new level of interest next to our white cabinets. We also only painted up part of the way, so the paint sort of imitates tile (which wasn’t in the budget this year) and also keeps the main house color continuing through the space so it doesn’t feel like a dark hole in the middle of our open-floor-plan downstairs.

Our kitchen right before we moved in! (Sadly, the best “before” example I have)

Our kitchen right after we painted!

Maybe Not My Favorite:

There are a few things I wish I had done differently when we were building our home. One of the biggest of these is the paint colors we chose throughout the entire home. I mentioned above that I like neutrals, and I wanted to keep the palette of our finishes pretty basic throughout so we could add new colors and textures over time to make it more personal.

This was a good idea for the most part, but to save money we painted the ceilings the same color as the walls, which means our home lacks contrast and interest. Now if we had done a plain, basic white (which is what I wish we had done now), this wouldn’t have been a big deal. But since our ceilings are a warm off-white “greige” color, it makes painting any cooler paint colors on the wall impossible, unless we also paint the ceiling. Lesson learned!

Loving the Home I Have:

As easy as it is for me to pick apart the things I dislike about my home, like looking at a whole bunch of greige walls, there are so many things I love, or at least have attempted to make more lovable. I am in the middle of reading Melissa’s new book “Love the Home You Have,” as I am sure many of you are as well! This book is speaking so beautifully to my heart and my desire for finding contentment in my home.

We are in a crazy stage of life and are trying to accomplish so many projects in our home before baby number two arrives, and sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed or feel like things are just out of my reach of getting right. I am trying to slow down and enjoy this process of making our house into a home, and also trying to be more content with the things that aren’t perfect. I can’t say enough good things about the book, and I honestly am so thankful for it in this time of chaos in my life. I hope you all have had a chance to grab a copy and are loving it!

Comments

What an interesting post!
We’re moving soon, + so far, everything’s light + neutral, for the same reasons you cited.
However, I am still on the fence re: our south-facing living room — more light or dramatic dark?

LOVE hearing what you would do differently! We paid to have a bedroom painted and ended up really disliking the color. Paid additional to have it painted two colors lighter. The job was so poorly done, I just had to redo it. So, my dear husband and I repainted it and now I’m satisfied. I simply couldn’t bear to look at that room and always think how much I hated the wall color! It was worth the extra effort.

Cassie! We did the same exact thing to save money when we built our house and it has been the single worst decision we made about the build. Should have gone for the ceiling white. At least we picked “Caravan” which was the only builder color that didn’t appear completely yellow on the walls–it’s pretty much greige and unoffensive, but a little on the side of boring. I feel your pain, but when the house is clean, I love the home I have.

Cassie! I think your color choices are beautiful! We made the mistake of not painting some of our ceilings white in a few of our rooms when we moved in and are now going back to paint them. It just seemed so overwhelming:). Absolutely loving Melissa’s book! I should already be finished reading but keep getting inspired by so many great ideas that I put it down to implement them:). Congrats on baby 2!!!

Your always inspire me thank you so much. BUT what do you do if you really hate muddy colors? I love those colors in other people’s homes, but our house has little natural light, we live in the Seattle area, & I have SADS.
so any advice for someone who feels like they need every wall ceiling and furniture in light colors? I do have a bright orange wall in my kitchen and a bright lime wall in our office.
Help please, I’m finding it difficult to love the home I have.

I love this! Our builder was super cheap & made us pick one color for everything – walls, ceilings & trim. (we asked & they said it wasn’t available as an option to do the standard 2 color trim & walls- but then somehow our neighbors ended up with what we asked for- hmm) I chose slightly off white – looking back now – I should have gone with a brilliant white now that I have to redo all my trim & ceilings to make things pop. Definitely need some dimension – I absolutely LOVE your new kitchen colors!! I’m inspired!!!

We got bold (for us) and used BM Catalina Blue for the LR & DR (one large room)…it’s spa like, but with a little punch. We went more neutral in the powder room (BM Cedar Key), and kitchen (Olympic/Lowe’s Tattered Sail.)

I just could never find a light greige or gray I could get 100% into. Most ended up looking more olive in our lighting. Good reason why paint samples are so critical! :)

Are you still loving the accessible beige? My ceiling and trim and all white but I looking to paint the main parts if the house accessible beige. The other rooms will be painted with more pops of color. Help I have to make a decision. :-)

Just read this post Saturday. Bought the paint sample and by Sunday was re-painting my kitchen accessible beige. 1 1/2 years ago we painted 3 times trying to find a griege that didn’t read pea green at night. Ended up with one that read a little swine (what a great description Melissa!) and I was living with it. Thanks for the post!

Thank you so much for your insight on using one paint colour.
We have been in our home for close to 15 years and wanted to paint all of our walls Manchester Beige by B.M.
I am re thinking this idea.
Thank you

Welcome! I'm Melissa Michaels. I created The Inspired Room in 2007 to inspire women to fall in love with the home they have. Ten years later, I'm still here doing my thing and loving every minute of it. I'm so glad YOU are here!